“Blue fancy-color diamond prices are at their all-time peak
due to a combination of very thin supply and healthy demand,” said Jim Pounds,
executive vice-president for diamonds at miner Dominion Diamond Corporation and
chairman of the FCRF’s advisory board. “Overall, high-quality and well-cut
vivid blues and pinks do not exist in sufficient volume to create price
stability.”

In the fourth quarter, the overall index declined slightly relative
to the previous three months, the FCRF said. Yellow-diamond prices slipped 1.4 percent and
pink prices were flat, outweighing a 1.5 percent increase in blue-diamond
prices.